Details emerge in wreck of stolen car Friday night

Crash

Police have released more details about a collision in which a motorist in a stolen car was critically injured while speeding away from police late Friday.

Officers in a marked patrol vehicle spotted the stolen Honda Civic about 10:20 p.m. near Jones and Lake Mead boulevards and followed it south on Jones and then east on Vegas Drive, Metro Police said Saturday. The car then pulled into a gas station at Decatur Boulevard and Vegas Drive, and as police approached, its driver sped out of the parking lot and south onto Decatur Boulevard.

Police followed the car and decided not to pursue it further for safety reasons, police said. The officers lost sight of the Honda when it ran a red light on southbound Decatur at Washington Avenue.

The Honda continued on Decatur while approaching Kansas Avenue and hit a 2005 Nissan Sentra that was turning left onto Kansas from the left-turn lane of northbound Decatur. Both vehicles went spinning and ran off the roadway, and the Honda struck two trees before stopping.

The driver of the Honda, an unidentified man in his 20s, was rushed to University Medical Center in critical condition. He was not wearing a seat belt.

The driver of the Nissan also was hospitalized, but he was not seriously hurt.